To All,

We are just beginning to see the worms coming out of the pecan woodwork; I 
wonder if the scenarios recently described here on BEE-L are 
representative of a small area, a single county? Or is this a situation 
that encompasses a broad expanse of the 2006 California Almond 
Pollination.  If the later holds true the almond business will be in far 
worse trouble than that of the beekeepers who with good intentions brought 
their hives to the Golden State. 

The simple fact is that the almond growers need bees for pollination more 
than the beekeepers need the grower’s pollination fees!

The whole situation fires me up so much that I want to write an article 
about the situation but I have already committed to another subject for my 
April article. Plantings of pecans will create an ever-increasing demand 
upon the beekeepers of this country due to the thousands of acres of 
almonds coming into production within the next few years.  Canada through 
political pressure may be able to allow hives to go south across the 
border supplement the demand; however, the degree of Africanization in 
California will not in my opinion allow their return unless Canada were to 
become Africanized. 

Packages from Australia of three or four pounds would seem to me to be 
simply inadequate after reading the fine essays of Tucker, Harrison, and 
others. In order for packages to work 6 to eight pounds of bees would be 
required to start on drawn comb one to two months before the bloom.  
That’s too costly even at $125.00 a hive!

That leaves the U.S. Beekeeper.

Unless the Beekeeper can come into California and be treated with the same 
RULES AND STANDARDS over the entire State with pollination contracts 
having unilateral published and realistic standards of colony strength; 
objective inspectors under State employment that neither the grower nor 
the local Beekeeper Inspector can unduly influence; and border inspections 
that are realistic to the environment there will remain a shortage of 
honeybees for almond pollination in the years to come. 

As for me I would rather go hunting with Sure Shot Dick than send my hives 
off to a land 2600 miles away and have them all come back in different 
hives than they went and a whole lot empty. It’s not worth the worry and 
hassle! 

Sincerely,

Chuck Norton 

Norton's Nut & Honey Farm
330 Irvin Street
Reidsville, NC 27320

Tel: 336 342 4490

http://www.mybeebusiness.com 

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